Sunday 31 May 2009

Catch Up

The children and I have been out for the last 4 days at the Bath and West Show, showing alpacas. Amiryck did very well.... Clover was moved from the Junior Brown Female Huacaya class to the Fawn class. Fantastically she was awarded a third place in a strong class of approximately 16 alpacas. Fawn alpacas are typically more advanced than brown so it brought a big smile to my face. Next in was Cinnamon, in the Junior Brown Female Huacaya class. She was awarded a first place (the judge said she was a clear winner!).

What a way to end our show season!

Dill continues to make good progress and as you can see is a very handsome young man!

The pups are growing up quickly and have changed a lot over the time I have been away. Below you can see some pictures of how they are coming on.



Saturday 23 May 2009

Dill the one eyed cria - photos



As you can see having one eye hasn't slowed him down!


Thursday 21 May 2009

Dill the one eyed cria

This week has been eventful for Dill, our new cria.

On Tuesday I noticed one of his eyes looked opaque, I called our vets and we started him on antibiotics. However, the next morning, although his conjunctiva looked less swollen his eye looked worse, milky and very swollen. So the vet came straight out and I took out my equipment to go and examine his eyes with him (I am an Optometrist for those of you who don't know me). We concluded what we could see and our vet went off to contact a veterinary Ophthalmologist. It was decided Dill and his mum ought to go off to this vets for him to look at the eye.

After various tests the vet suggested that it would be best for Dill to have the eye removed. He was not likely to ever regain sight in the eye and the pressure of his eye was double what it should have been. It was likely that we would battle for a long time with a regime of drops for the eye never to regain vision and to potentially have further problems with glaucoma in the future.

So... the deed was done and on removal the vet discovered that the eye had a cut in the side of it which had caused puss to accumulate throughout the eye - there would have been no saving it unless we had caught it immediately on having done it.

I am relieved that we took the decision to get a specialist opinion and avoided him having to suffer more than necessary. Dill seems unphased by it all and went straight for a drink on reuniting with his mum. Just hours after his op. he was seen racing around the paddock at the end of the garden.

Photos to follow....

Friday 15 May 2009

Thursday 14 May 2009

First cria of the year

Due to spending the last 2 days shearing alpacas at Inca, I missed the birth of our first cria this year. Born mid/late afternoon yesterday it was a slow starter and had to be fed expressed milk the first couple of feeds but I am pleased to report all is good now and he is doing well.


Monday 11 May 2009

Success at the National!!

I have spent the weekend away at the British Alpaca Society National Show. As always it was nice to get out and see other alpacas and their owners. We took our 2 brown cria, Cinnamon and Clover. We only have a herd of 13 alpaca and are choosing to concentrate our efforts on quality brown animals. Despite nearly having heart failure at our class entry of 24 (no doubt they weren't all there - I wasn't counting numbers in the ring but I can tell you it was full!!) I am pleased to report success for Amiryck. Cinnamon was awarded first place and Clover second Junior Brown Female Huacaya - we couldn't have hoped for anything better. Unfortunately the show awarded age rather than colour champions and as is the case with alpacas at the moment the whites/fawns took all of these.

Needless to say I arrived back home with a smile on my face!

Wednesday 6 May 2009

Monday 4 May 2009

New Arrivals

I am pleased to report the arrival of 7 little gingers. 3 guys and 4 gals. All are doing well (including mum).